2. The mission.
"Do you think he will ever learn to speak like one of us?" Amhul asked Puvomun. She was sitting with him and together they looked over the lake. Puvomun understood she was talking about Jakesully.
"I don't know, ma Amhul. Even the way he speaks the Sky People language is hard to understand for me," the singer-teacher said. "And when he tries to speak Na'vi, even a yerik will run."
Amhul laughed. "Srane, it is very bad. Neytiri was not pleased when Tsahik told her to teach him our ways. I spoke with her and she says that the skxawng is beyond ignorant. He said his cup was empty, but Neytiri sometimes wonders if he has a cup at all."
Puvomun grinned at that remark. "Perhaps we should make a song for him."
"For who?" Tsu'tey's voice sounded behind the two.
Puvomun looked back. "For the skxawng."
"For him? Pxasìk!" Tsu'tey spat. "But you can make a song for when he joins Eywa. If Eywa wants him." The man walked off. The rest of what he said was lost, but the singers knew it was not pretty what the next olo'eytkan had to say about Jakesully.
"Don't anger Tsu'tey," Amhul warned Puvomun. "When he gets angry, he will forget you are not taronyu and he will challenge you."
"You are right. I should be more careful around him." Puvomun nodded. "I will go now and see if I can find I'awn and Virid'ian, to see if they want to-"
At that moment a cry came from above, making the two look to where it came from. They saw Neytiri dive down from the top of Kelutral, flying Seze. Puvomun always was impressed seeing someone fly an ikran like that. After circling the higher branches, Neytiri and Seze flew into them, disappearing from view as another of her cries barely reached the surface of the forest.
Amhul had gotten up. "I would love to fly like that, Puvomun. Do you think I can still become taronyu?" she asked as she strained her neck to see if the ikran would come out of the high foliage again.
"If you really want to, Amhul, you can do anything." Puvomun also stood. "Ask Tsu'tey, maybe he will guide you. Or Tawtewng, or one of the others."
The singer shook her head. "I am a singer, a dancer and a teacher, like you. We will never fly, ma 'eylan. We are here to see the others and sing of their deeds. And you need not look for I'awn, she asked me to practice a dance with her today."
"Sìltsan," Puvomun said, "I will then find something for Virid'ian to do. If I can find him."
Amhul laughed as she walked off.
The singer-teacher tried to find Virid'ian, but the young one was not to be found. As he walked back to Kelutral, as there was always something to do there, he heard Neytiri shout.
"You are so stupid! No, don't say that you are sorry! Not again! Next time I throw you from the tree!" Mo'at's daughter came running down and almost ran into Puvomun. "Oh!"
"What's wrong, Neytiri?"
"It's... it's... him!" She stabbed a finger at Jakesully who came down also, an expression of wonder on his face. He had that often lately. "He doesn't know one end of an arrow from the other, and now he almost fell down when we went to see the ikrans! Hrah!"
"I can teach him a few things," Puvomun offered, wondering what those things would be as he said the words.
"Kehe... Sa'nok told me to teach him. She won't like it if I don't do that. Irayo, ma Puvomun." Then Neytiri looked at Jakesully. "Come. We go and read the trail. And this time do not step on my foot!"
"Good luck," Puvomun said to the dreamwalker as Neytiri grabbed his wrist.
"Thanks, I need it!" replied Jakesully as he was dragged away.
Puvomun silently agreed with him. Neytiri was in a mood.
Lolet came walking in. "What was all that?" she asked as the singer-teacher looked for arrows to fletch. He told her what had happened and they laughed.
"Have you seen Virid'ian?" Lolet then asked. "I've been looking for him."
Puvomun shook his head. "I tried to find him too, but he is a master of hiding."
"Hiding? He is lazy! He promised ma sempul to help with some work and now he is gone!" Lolet hissed. Things did not look well for Virid'ian, if she were to find him.
Puvomun looked at her as the girl ran away, and then continued making the arrows. It was slow and precise work. If the wood was not straight, or the feather not in balance, the arrow would be worthless.
He had been working on the arrows for a while when Tawtewng came along.
"Kaltxì, Puvomun."
"Kaltxì," said the arrow maker without looking up from his work, "who are you looking for?"
Tawtewng stared at the man. "How do you know that?"
Now the singer-teacher looked up. "I just know. Tsu'tey left a while ago, he went to where the pa'li are. Amhul is looking for I'awn and Lolet is on her way to kick Virid'ian if she can find him. So who are you looking for?"
Tawtewng said he wanted to see Eytukan about something. "It is something for tsamsiyu, Puvomun, not for rolyu. Not for a singer. I will find him." Proudly, the young warrior walked off.
"Tawtewng!" Puvomun called after him. "You have more luck finding the olo'eyktan on the other side of Kelutral." He pointed.
"I'll walk around it," Tawtewng said, who did not want to take the advice.
Not long after that, the young warrior came back, his face unhappy.
"What is on your mind, young tsamsiyu?" Puvomun asked.
"Hrah," Tawtewng vented his feelings. "My idea was not good enough, he said. Instead you and I have to go and find Neytiri and the uniltìranyu, to see how he is progressing. And they should not see us, so we have to be careful."
Puvomun nodded as he put the repaired arrow to the side. There were plenty of new and repaired ones now. "Sìltsan. We should go then."
"I will get the pa'li," the young warrior said. He looked dismayed as Puvomun held him back.
"No, we won't need horses. They went off to read the trail. Neytiri dragged him that way, so they are going to the waterhole again. We can go there on foot. Or are you afraid to run with a singer?"
Tawtewng stood proud. "I will run slowly, so you can keep up!"
They found Neytiri and Jakesully sitting in a tree. Neytiri was still not very pleased, Puvomun noticed quickly as he sat on a high, distant branch. Tawtewng sat next to the singer, who noticed Jakesully's broken bow hanging from a twig.
"Not again." Puvomun had repaired the bow several times already. Maybe he should tell Neytiri to be more careful with the man and his things. On second thought, that might not be wise. The 'ite of the Tsahik did not always take it well when people told her to do something.
"What?" Tawtewng asked. Then he noticed the bow. "Oh. Yes. Again." He chuckled. "Another tsko for you to repair, rolyu. I can shoot better with his broken bow than he could with a good one."
"Tawtewng, keep your voice down. We are here to see how Jakesully is doing, not to tell them and palulukan that we are here," Puvomun reprimanded the young warrior. "There is a time to make noise, and there is a time to be quiet, ma 'ewantu."
"Srane, srane," Tawteweng muttered. "I wish I had gone with Tsu'tey. You are no fun."
"Fun, tsamsiyu? You look for fun? If you really want-"
"Look, they're leaving," Tawtewng interrupted Puvomun.
And indeed, Neytiri and Jakesully had given up the language lesson. The two spies heard how she commented on the uniltìranyu having a tongue of wood and a brain of sand.
"You can't even remember the simple words! You must practice harder, talk more. Talk with the children." Neytiri jumped down from branch to branch. "The little children!" she added.
"I think we have seen what Eytukan wants to know," said Puvomun. "We can go back now."
"No, I will stay and keep watching them," said Tawtewng, already on his feet and ready to chase after the two others.
"Kehe, Tawtewng," Puvomun said, his voice surprisingly sharp. "That is not the way. Olo'eyktan gave you an order. You are responsible. You have to tell him what we saw. We have seen that they are working hard." The singer's face went dark as he thought of the broken bow. "Too hard, perhaps. But it would not make a good impression if I go back and tell Eytukan what he asked you to come and tell."
"But I want to see more," Tawtewng argued, straining his neck to see where Neytiri and the skxawng were going.
"Is that what Eytukan asked you to do?"
"Yes. No. Not really." The young warrior still was fighting himself, but his conviction was faltering a little. "Hrah... now they have gone and I don't see them anymore. That is your fault. Now we have to go back." Tawtewng started back towards Kelutral.
Puvomun went down the tree. In the distance he heard Neytiri yell at her numeyu. Tawtewng heard that too, Puvomun was certain, yet the young warrior kept going back home. The singer-teacher smiled. Maybe this tsamsiyu had learnt something today. From rolyu.
Na'vi - English.
Yerik - six-legged kind of deer
Skxawng - moron, idiot
Srane - yes
Kehe - no
Pxasìk - very bad curse-word
Taronyu - hunter
Ikran - mountain banshee
'Eylan - friend
Sìltsan - good
Sa'nok - mother
Sempul - father
Kaltxì - hello
Tsamsiyu - warrior
Rolyu - singer
Karyu - teacher
Olo'eyktan - clan leader
Pa'li - six-legged direhorse
Kelutral - Hometree, where the Na'vi clan lives
Uniltìranyu - Dreamwalker, a human in an Avatar body
Tsko - bow
'Ewantu - young one
Palulukan - giant six-legged feline predator
Numeyu - Student
